Comerica Park
What originally fueled the B4B idea was to visit each major league baseball stadium across the country. Now that our dreams will become reality beginning in 2012, we will want to share our greatest experiences with followers of our journey. We’ll report on fan devotion, best concessions, most memorable park moment in history and video blogging each 7th inning stretch the B4B crew will sing along to all season. We really want our readers to experience each stadium along with us.
Over the next few months, the B4B blog will be providing previews of each major league stadium. We will give some historical background, along with plenty of pictures. We would love to get fans perspective on each park as well, so please provide feedback on your favorite stadium on facebook and twitter. Our posts will take us from the oldest stadium all the way to the brand new Marlins Stadium. We hope you enjoy.
Comerica Park
Comerica Park is the home of the Detroit Tigers. The $300 million retro ballpark was built as part of a revitalization of downtown Detroit, along with Ford Field, situated near the Fox Theatre. Comerica Bank agreed to pay $66 million over 30 years for naming rights to the stadium, and the Tigers recently paid $214 million over 9 years for the naming rights to the front of Prince Fielder’s jersey. The ballpark includes a carousel, Ferris wheel, an enormous water feature in center field, and much better sightlines than the old Tiger Stadium.
The first game at Comerica Park took place on April 11, 2000 between the Seattle Mariners and the Tigers. Despite giving up 10 hits, Brian Moehler led the Tiger to a 5-2 win in a cold, snowy game. The grounds crew had to clear snow from the field before the game. That’s baseball in the Great Lakes region. Moehler was also the winning pitcher in the final game at Tiger Stadium, giving up 9 hits in an 8-2 win over the Royals.
Comerica Park has a very distinctive brick exterior, and the park appears smaller than it actually is because the field sits below ground level. Most entrances to the stadium are guarded by huge stone tiger statues with menacing scowls. There are 9 total tigers, weighing an average of 5,000 pounds each.
Compared to old Tiger Field, Comerica Park is much more cavernous. The center field wall is 420 feet from home plate, and although the left field wall has been moved in, it is still a very deep 370 feet. In 2011, Comerica Park was favorable to pitchers for home runs, but it was the second most favorable to hitters for triples. Basically, the Tigers are always going to need a Gold Glove caliber centerfielder to patrol the spacious outfield at Comerica Park.
B4B is excited to check out these huge tiger statues in person. We’ll be watching Prince and Miggie and the Tigers take on AL Central rival Indians on August 4th. Come join us!